Makerspace centers beckon creative souls

Creatorspace member Fitz Walker shows off his robotic dog "K9" at the group's makerspace in Webster.

Creatorspace member Fitz Walker shows off his robotic dog "K9" at the group's makerspace in Webster.

Photo: ÂKim Christensen, Photographer

Photo: ÂKim Christensen, Photographer

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Creatorspace member Fitz Walker shows off his robotic dog "K9" at the group's makerspace in Webster.

Creatorspace member Fitz Walker shows off his robotic dog "K9" at the group's makerspace in Webster.

Photo: ÂKim Christensen, Photographer

Makerspace centers beckon creative souls

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There are spaces in the neighborhood for modern-day tinkerers.

Makerspaces - facilities for innovative thinkers that are part collaborative workshop, part factory and part philosophical salon - can be found at Creatorspace, 15502 Texas 3, Unit 202 in Webster, and the Joceyln H. Lee Innovation Lab at Freeman Library, 16616 Diana Lane.

"It's a collection of tools and a collection of people," Creatorspace president Scott Milligan said of his group, which started with about a dozen people who gathered for a monthly lecture series on technology and software at the library and spawned both local makerspace facilities.

"It's the new democracy of technology. It's a community workshop. It's a physical place where you can come - but we also provide skill-building workshops."

Mulligan, a 28-year-old retail department supervisor, said it all started with a core group of 10 to 12 people, who would gather monthly for a lecture series on new technology and software at the Clear Lake City-County Freeman Library.

"It was mostly about getting a broader understanding of what's out there and the different applications available for makers," Milligan said.

Before long, the group decided they could do much more.

"We wanted to serve a larger community and we wanted to have more access," Milligan said. "Talking about 3D printing or talking about laser cutting was one thing, but having a space to use those tools was another."

The group searched for a place to set up shop where they could lease a space and share the cost of new technological tools.

"Sometimes a $2,500 machine that doesn't fit in the garage you don't even have isn't an option," Milligan said. "This way, you'd have a place to start without blowing the bank, especially when you don't know if you want to do one project or 30."

After three months of fundraising, the group found a reasonably priced space and designed and built their ideal makerspace.

Since that site opened on Texas 3 in 2014, the group's core membership has doubled and has become an official nonprofit organization.

Branch manager Jim Johnson said the library's journey toward creating its Innovation Lab began with a notice about a will in 2013. The executor said that patron Jocelyn H. Lee had granted $134,500 of his estate to the library.

"I was amazed," Johnson said. "Libraries just don't get that kind of money."

They had to decide what to do with the donation, and Johnson began looking into makerspaces.

"It's become a little trend in libraries across the nation," he said. "We had space for it, and we're surrounded by a strong engineering community."

In 2014, the library purchased a 3D printer and began offering courses on the technology, while simultaneously developing plans to renovate a space upstairs into a creative laboratory.